Both the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust and Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (BHFT) – which runs the mental health services in the town – have been praised for their high standard of care.

Bosses of both trusts have received letters from the CQC – only 41 of 392 trusts in the country have received a letter – thanking them for the hard work in maintaining high scores for the last two years by CQC chairwoman Barbara Young.

The BHFT got an ‘excellent’ rating for its quality of services score and ‘good’ for its use of financial resources – last year it received an ‘excellent’ for the latter.

RBH maintained last year’s rating, getting ‘good’ for services of care and ‘excellent’ for its financial management.

Professor Ann Sheen, chief executive of the RBH, said: “Patient expectations of the NHS, quite rightly, are extremely high and the standards required to achieve an excellent rating reflect this.

“Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust is one of the strongest performers in the region and we are delighted we can offer our patients the consistency of high quality care and the reassurance that we are making the best possible use of taxpayers’ money.

“However, we continue working to achieve our goal of a double excellent rating.”

Primary care services have also improved with NHS Berkshire West picking up two good ratings, above the two fair ratings given last year.

Charles Waddicor, NHS Berkshire West’s chief executive, said: “These results are testament of the dedication of colleagues and staff to find innovative ways of utilising the taxpayers’ money without compromising the quality of care.

“Achieving high performance in these areas matters to patients and therefore it matters to NHS Berkshire West.”